Editorial: Haslam will continue to face conflict-of-interest suspicions until he is more transparent about his finances

As long as Gov. Bill Haslam refuses to be fully transparent about his private business interests while holding elective office he will frequently face questions about possible conflicts of interest like the one that arose over whether he had a stake in a company that won a state contract to manage state office space and real estate.

The state awarded Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle two contracts to manage about 9.6 million square feet of the state-owned or leased office space over the next five years. The contracts will pay JLL $38 million and state officials said the deal is expected to save taxpayers about $100 million over the next decade.

Last month, a legislator questioned whether Haslam owned stock in JLL. Administration officials said they didn’t know because Haslam’s business holdings are in a blind trust. During a presentation on the contract before the legislature’s Fiscal Review Committee Tuesday, Haslam chief of staff Mark Cate said, “As we came into office in 2011, he (Haslam) no longer owned that stock. His assets are in a blind trust now so we couldn’t tell you what he owns at this point.” Cates also conceded the administration should have been more transparent about the JLL deal.

Still, as long as the governor refuses to be fully transparent about his investments, conflict-of-interest suspicions will continue to lurk in the background.